Infocus 4805 DLP projector for $999 after rebate at Costco

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I hope this isn't a repost here. I heard about the deal on AVSforum and Hometheaterforum.

The infocus 4805 is $1199 - $100 coupon (from coupon booklet sent to costco members or you get it when you sign up for a $45 membership... coupon is valid from Jan31st to Feb6th) - $100 mail in rebate (also for same dates I think) = $999 + tax (of the original $1199 I think).

Thanks to costco's great customer satisfaction guarantee, you don't have to worry about the bulb burning out early either! Oh, and unfortunately, this is an in store deal only as far as I know.

This is one of the top projectors in the sub $1500 range and offers great value even for it's list price of $1299.

There's an insanely long thread at AVSforum on the 4805 if you want some specifics. Here's a good place for quick info and it has a nifty screen size / viewing distance calculator: Projector Central

It has component, s-video, composite, and DVI input. It also comes with an adapter for a standard computer type output if I'm not mistaken (haven't gotten mine yet).

The 4805 has fixed some issues that the X1 suffered from like the rainbow effect, but it still has the excellent Faroudja deinterlacer so SD will still look good on it.

I'm sure there's some current owners that could give a better review of it than I can since I don't actually own it yet.

Sorry again if a repost.

 

[Dug]

Great price for probably the best projector under $2k.

I remember these were $1500 not too long ago.

 

[tfinch2]

This is a great price, but a little out of my range. I got a Viewsonic PJ501 for 650 AR and the picture for me is GREAT. I posted the deal a week ago.

 

[sat4fun]

Don't get this PJ if you don't have a light controled room, or want to use a 4:3 screen. A 4:3 image is cropped to center in a 16:9. This is a major disadvantage to me. Anyone with a pull down screen is stupid to limit themselves to a 16:9 image. I have watched the 4805 and my X1 side by side and the X1 is noticably brighter. Go for it if you have a 16:9 and a dark room.

 

[Infernus]

Originally posted by: Dug
Great price for probably the best projector under $2k.

I remember these were $1500 not too long ago.

Depends on whether or not you want higher resolution. The Sanyo PlV-Z2 is only $1449 and is a 16:9 720P projector.

 

[stevent76]

I bought this projector right when it came out. I couldnt be happier with it. I am tempted at this price to buy one for my bedroom

 

[waxking1]

"Anyone with a pull down screen is stupid to limit themselves to a 16:9 image"


I have a pull down screen I use with my Dwin TV3 which is 1280x720 or 16:9. I would never want to go back to a 4:3 projector. I still have a 4:3 Nec LT150 I bought before the Dwin, I only use it in an emergency and hate the 4:3. I believe most anyone who has used both would much prefer a 16:9 projector.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

stevent76, have you tried to hook yours up to a computer? I'm going to hook this up in addition to DVD player.

I bought a svga to component cable that I'm going to run to my receiver and then a 50' run to the projector (cables from cablesforless.com). Anyone have experience running a computer signal to a 16:9 display with component? Would powerstrip allow me to get a native resolution to the projector? I wouldn't mind having the computer output be a 4:3 box on the screen, but if I could get a widescreen image to it, that would be great.

Vid card is a radeon 9800 pro. It supports widescreen in the form of 1920x1080 (or something close to that) but Infocus's info says the 4805 only supports upto 1024x768 input.

Overall I'm just trying to get the best looking widescreen image on the projector, and ideas? A DVI run or svga run to their adapter (if i'm understanding correctly that it comes with an adapter) would have to be about 30 to 40 feet...

I'm hopefully going to have it by Sunday from my sister who bought it for me (no costcos here in WI) and will pricematch it when the sale starts.

 

[stevent76]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
stevent76, have you tried to hook yours up to a computer? I'm going to hook this up in addition to DVD player.

I bought a svga to component cable that I'm going to run to my receiver and then a 50' run to the projector (cables from cablesforless.com). Anyone have experience running a computer signal to a 16:9 display with component? Would powerstrip allow me to get a native resolution to the projector? I wouldn't mind having the computer output be a 4:3 box on the screen, but if I could get a widescreen image to it, that would be great.

Vid card is a radeon 9800 pro. It supports widescreen in the form of 1920x1080 (or something close to that) but Infocus's info says the 4805 only supports upto 1024x768 input.

Overall I'm just trying to get the best looking widescreen image on the projector, and ideas? A DVI run or svga run to their adapter (if i'm understanding correctly that it comes with an adapter) would have to be about 30 to 40 feet...

I'm hopefully going to have it by Sunday from my sister who bought it for me (no costcos here in WI) and will pricematch it when the sale starts.

Ill be honest I hooked up a computer with a Radeon 9600xt AIW and wasnt really that impressed. I only used it for a few hours. Im sure it could look nice, i just didnt invest much time or effort. I have a dvd player with dvi out and the picture is awsome! Sorry i cant help with the computer though.

 

[CyberTron]

this unit is only 750 Lumens, isnt that kind of low? (i dont know jack about projectors but was told 1500 was even a bit low) what about those 3500 lumen units? can you watch 750 without turning the lights off? (daytime)

 

[Leaverus]

Originally posted by: CyberTron
this unit is only 750 Lumens, isnt that kind of low? (i dont know jack about projectors but was told 1500 was even a bit low) what about those 3500 lumen units? can you watch 750 without turning the lights off? (daytime)

Probably not. My Costco usually has this thing running and you can barely see the picture. You'd definitely have to be watching this in a room with adjustable lighting.

 

[Dug]

Originally posted by: Infernus

Originally posted by: Dug
Great price for probably the best projector under $2k.

I remember these were $1500 not too long ago.

Depends on whether or not you want higher resolution. The Sanyo PlV-Z2 is only $1449 and is a 16:9 720P projector.

Unfortunately LCD just can't compare to DLP.
I've tried both. LCD is fine if you don't care about blacks.

this unit is only 750 Lumens, isnt that kind of low?

No. Infocus is very conservative in their ratings.
This thing is bright. Great blacks.

Anyone with a pull down screen is stupid to limit themselves to a 16:9 image. I have watched the 4805 and my X1 side by side and the X1 is noticably brighter. Go for it if you have a 16:9 and a dark room.

You would be laughed off of avsforum for saying that. An X1 over a 4805? Stupid to limit themselves to 16:9? You have to be kidding. Any good high definition or dvd is in 16:9. You either have no idea how to set up a 4805 or you have a crappy screen. Yes all projectors need a dark room. Any amount of light on any projector no matter what the price will degrade the picture. There is no physical way around it.

 

[Squalish2357]

Only count on getting a normal projector if you can black out a room. The 3000 lumen monsters are a different matter, but most of the ones in a normal budget range measure well under 1000 lumens.

 

[KidViciou$]

i thought the panasonice 500 is one of the best under $2000

 

[deals99]

Originally posted by: Dug
Unfortunately LCD just can't compare to DLP.
I've tried both. LCD is fine if you don't care about blacks.

The new lcds have an improved contrast ratio and black level, such as the sanyo z3 (2000:1).

 

[sat4fun]

Originally posted by: Dug

Originally posted by: Infernus

Originally posted by: Dug
Great price for probably the best projector under $2k.

I remember these were $1500 not too long ago.

Depends on whether or not you want higher resolution. The Sanyo PlV-Z2 is only $1449 and is a 16:9 720P projector.

Unfortunately LCD just can't compare to DLP.
I've tried both. LCD is fine if you don't care about blacks.

this unit is only 750 Lumens, isnt that kind of low?

No. Infocus is very conservative in their ratings.
This thing is bright. Great blacks.

Anyone with a pull down screen is stupid to limit themselves to a 16:9 image. I have watched the 4805 and my X1 side by side and the X1 is noticably brighter. Go for it if you have a 16:9 and a dark room.

You would be laughed off of avsforum for saying that. An X1 over a 4805? Stupid to limit themselves to 16:9? You have to be kidding. Any good high definition or dvd is in 16:9. You either have no idea how to set up a 4805 or you have a crappy screen. Yes all projectors need a dark room. Any amount of light on any projector no matter what the price will degrade the picture. There is no physical way around it.

Who cares about AVS. Most pulldown screens are square, correct? Most all non movie DVD and SD material is 4:3, correct. Why waste the square footage when watching the 4:3. My X1 displays 16:9 just as well as the 4805. The 4805 comes nowhere close to the ability of my X1 when it comes to 4:3. Native 16:9 is not necessary.

Of course you need a dark room, but you need a darker room for 4805. The X1s 1100 vs. the 4805s 750 is considerably noticable. The Infocus ratings for the X1 are also conservative. Need I remind you that I have seen them side by side. Have you? And yes, I do know how to set things up.

Crappy screen? We are talking dimensions here. What does screen quality have anything to do with it? Besides, it is a very nice Da-lite. Stop the snobbish attitude dude. You have been spending too much time at AVS. Any mention of 4:3 at AVS is laughed at. I agree that 4:3 movie watchers are lame, but wanting to watch any material the way that you want it is not.

Besides, I got my X1, now flashed to 4800, a year and a half ago for $750 and wouldn't consider trading for a 4805. I will change when all material is 16:9.

 

[tvarad]

Like you I used to be a 4:3 die-hard (why go 16:9 when most TV programming is 4:3?). Then I set up a Panasonic AE700U for my brother with Dish HDTV and a 1080i/720P upconverting DVD player, along with a Draper tensioned 106" 16:9 manual crank screen. After mounting the screen, it took me all of 5 minutes to set up everything and another 10 minutes of tweaking.

Now, I don't want to watch another non-HDTV program ever again. If you watch a ball-game on HDTV 16:9 format or a widescreen movie on this setup, you will be immediately converted. The panoramic view sucks you into the action. When they put the camera on the grass during a kick-off, you can almost smell it! I have been totally converted.

I personally haven't checked out a 4805 setup (except the 24" diagonal projection in Costco which doesn't do it justice) but if the AVSforum guys say it's good, I will believe them. I was sceptical about the Panny setup, even though it was recommended highly on the AVS forums. Get 16:9 HDTV at least for the sports programming, you'll never go back to watching it in 4:3 again. I think HDTV is still in the early adopters stage (you can only watch the demo channel so many times) but the tipping point is only a year or two away and you can then expect it to become as commonplace as 4:3.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

sat4fun - "The 4805 comes nowhere close to the ability of my X1 when it comes to 4:3"

can you explain why this is?

I was under the impression that they both had the same de-interlacer chip that was used with SD. Are you talking about it being able to take up a full 4:3 screen? Then how can you say it's as good at 16:9 as the 4805? (besides the fact that it uses the new DLP chip and all reviews have said that it's superior to the X1, which is basically a presentation projector doing HT duty)

Are you saying the X1 is better just because of light output? I can understand that if you're watching stuff in a bright room, but that's not what projectors are designed to do in the first place. From my understanding, your eyes will adjust do the light level of the projector after a couple of minutes when it's in a dark room. Unless light output is dismally low or you have the screen too big for the projector, the light output won't be too much of an issue and then contrast and image quality (where the 4805 shines) will be the deciding factors of how it looks.

So you've had them both in your house and you picked the X1 as better? What were you watching? What were the conditions? Was this a store or did you try them both out at your house? Did you calibrate them with anything before you tried this?

 

[Kaido]

I've had my eye on the Optoma EzPro 745. For $1299 it looks pretty good. I originally wanted an X1, but in addition to home theater stuff I will be using it for business presentations on the road, so it needs high brightness and contrast. Plus it's XGA, which is perfect for my PowerPoint presentations.

 

[sat4fun]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
sat4fun - "The 4805 comes nowhere close to the ability of my X1 when it comes to 4:3"

can you explain why this is?

I was under the impression that they both had the same de-interlacer chip that was used with SD. Are you talking about it being able to take up a full 4:3 screen? Then how can you say it's as good at 16:9 as the 4805? (besides the fact that it uses the new DLP chip and all reviews have said that it's superior to the X1, which is basically a presentation projector doing HT duty)

Are you saying the X1 is better just because of light output? I can understand that if you're watching stuff in a bright room, but that's not what projectors are designed to do in the first place. From my understanding, your eyes will adjust do the light level of the projector after a couple of minutes when it's in a dark room. Unless light output is dismally low or you have the screen too big for the projector, the light output won't be too much of an issue and then contrast and image quality (where the 4805 shines) will be the deciding factors of how it looks.

So you've had them both in your house and you picked the X1 as better? What were you watching? What were the conditions? Was this a store or did you try them both out at your house? Did you calibrate them with anything before you tried this?

I am not a 4:3 die hard as previously described. Let me explain, again. I fully understand and prefer 16:9, even on my little 27". I want to see the material as it was intended. The 4805 is a 16:9 projector and this is great if you are shooting onto a 16:9 wall screen. However, unless you want your picture to hug the ceiling, a square screen is better. I have a 120" dia 4:3 screen that also acts as a window covering. With the X1 I can watch a 16:9 image in the center of the screen with the top and bottom of the screen not used. When I watch 4:3 material, I toggle the X1 to 4:3 and the full 120" dia is used with no additional adjustments. With the 4805, the 16:9 displays the same as the X1, but the 4:3 display is much different. The 4805 limits the height of the 4:3 image to fit onto the 16:9 screen and places vertical bars on the sides. This is great if you have a 16:9 screen, but not ideal if you want to maximize the use of your equipment and screen space. The 4805 is a good projector and I am sure that it exceeds the X1 in many areas, but not in the areas that I care about. DVI and color wheel are the only major differences. I have a Zenith 318 and do not need DVI and Rainbows are not a problem to me. I have had the X1 for a year and a half and I bought the 4805 at Costco on a whim just to check it out. I considered trading up. I tested on the exact same equipment with the same conditions and I calibrated both PJs with DVE. I would love the 4805 if I had a 16:9 white space on my wall, but I do not. Like most people, I do not have a dedicated home theater. I have a room that happens to have HT equipment in it. My next pj will be XGA which the 4805 is not.

 

[Doggiedog]

Great price.

I've got the 4805 myself and am very happy with it....except for the fan noise.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Thanks for clearing that up sat4fun, I thought your complaints on the 4805 were based on image quality rather than where and how the different aspect ratios are projected.

I might end up mounting my screen so the image is more eye level so I wont have the "hug the ceiling" problem.

I'm also looking at the smaller 4:3 and larger 16:9 as an advantage as 16:9 content tends to be of higher quality than 4:3 content, so it would make sense to watch the 16:9 larger than you would 4:3 at the same distance. I think I'd have complaints about the quality of a 120" SD image in my dorm room hehe.

edit: Doggiedog, have you had any good results hooking up a computer you yours? Anybody that has had a success story with a hookup please let me know any tips.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hey guys. I got my 4805 set up last night. DVDs looked a lot better than I thought they would considering I'm sitting in front of the projector due to room size.

I haven't gotten my DVI to component adapter yet, so I can't comment on how that looks, but s-video from computer isn't too hot. I really hate how the catalyst control center makes setting up a second display so I didn't mess around with it too much with the s-video connection since that's not how I'm going to have it in the end hopefully.

Watching at night the brightness of the 4805 is more than I expected. I'm only projecting on a slightly off-white wall too (screen is still with my sister in Minneapolis heh).

The size of difference between my 19" monitor and my 36" sony is about the same as the 36" sony to the projected image. If anybody at UW-Madison wants to see a crazy big image in a dorm room, let me know heh.

 

[StanFL]

I bought one of these at Costco in early Dec. I don't know if it was mentioned or not but the bundle includes a matte white pull down screen which is pretty damn good. It's about 76" diagonal in 16x9. Make sure you are able to sit about 2X screen diagonal (or further) away from it to avoid the screen door effect.

I live in a studio apt with a regular window at the back wall where the screen is mounted and a 6' sliding glass door at the other end of the room. Both have mini blinds, walls and celing are off white. Plenty of ambient light comes thru in the daytime. At first I was disappointed in daytime viewing, then I bought a cheap black curtain for the rear window. It is not totally opaque but it reduced light near the screen considerably and made a huge difference. Daytime viewing is not a problem now. This PJ really is a light cannon.

I tried my HDTV with both component and DVI. Surprisingly, I liked the component better. My Pace HDTV settop box allows component pass thru so both HDTV and DVD go to the PJ thru one set of cables. The faroudja chip and great DCDI of the PJ makes for best viewing letting it handle all scaling and deinterlacing.

If you are going to use it on a computer, DVI is the only way to go. I love how easy nvidia's 66.93 drivers make it. Text is actually very readable, although at 852x480 it isn't too practical for web browsing. You will need a M1 DVI adapter (cheaper at Buy.com than direct from InFocus) to hook up to the proprietary DVI on the PJ.

On low power mode, it's not noisy enough to bother me, it sits next to my PC and is probably about the same, noise wise.

I paid $1333 with sales tax out the door and will probably see if Costco will price match next week. I would buy it again in a heartbeat, which is the best endorsement I can give. HDTV, DVD, vid thru computer all looks absolutely stunning and the picture needs very little, if any tweaking out of the box.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Hey guys. I got my 4805 set up last night. DVDs looked a lot better than I thought they would considering I'm sitting in front of the projector due to room size.

I haven't gotten my DVI to component adapter yet, so I can't comment on how that looks, but s-video from computer isn't too hot. I really hate how the catalyst control center makes setting up a second display so I didn't mess around with it too much with the s-video connection since that's not how I'm going to have it in the end hopefully.

Watching at night the brightness of the 4805 is more than I expected. I'm only projecting on a slightly off-white wall too (screen is still with my sister in Minneapolis heh).

The size of difference between my 19" monitor and my 36" sony is about the same as the 36" sony to the projected image. If anybody at UW-Madison wants to see a crazy big image in a dorm room, let me know heh.

Sorry I missed your post.

I've only tried it on a laptop and it did not look very good due to the low resolution.

There is a new firmware for the PJ so check it out if you haven't already. Also, if you are planning on mounting it to the ceiling, someone makes a cheap but very nice mount on avsforum. I also bought the M1 adapter from someone on avsforum as well. Its very pricey ($30 w/ shipping) for a small piece of plastic.

If I were you, I would have 2 user settings for the PJ. One for day with higher brightness and contrast and one with much lower for greater details in a dark environment. I had huge white crush in LOTR ROTK and had to lower contrast and brightness to the teens. That setting however was terrible for daytime viewing.

One thing to be aware of is that the PJ fan is always on when the power switch is on. I manually turn off the PJ when I'm not using it.